Dear Bharati, Kindly allow me to respond to some of the issues you have raised with regard to the story titled 'Angry Birds Skip Polluted Delhi' authored by Ranjit Devraj, Editor, Inter Press Service (IPS) accompanied by a picture of 'Eurasian Spoonbill wintering at the Okhla sanctuary in the heart of New Delhi city taken by Tarun Kumar Roy, coordinator of the Asian waterbird census of Wetlands International (WI).
It is a great story and underlines a significant moment in environmentalism. The choice of a precise picture is equally brilliant. For the picture and the story kindly visit the URL: http://www.ipsnews.net/2013/08/angry-birds-skip-polluted-delhi/ I am posting the complete story below my message as well. I may be excused for this long message because it is meant to set the record straight for good. The IPS story drives home a pithy message that did reach those who are concerned with the ecosystem of Okhla. UP Government impleaded itself in the National Green Tribunal to protect the Okhla Bird Sanctuary from the hazardous assault from the Persistent Organic Pollutants like Dioxins, Heavy Metals like mercury and Green House Gases emitted by the waste incineration based power plant of M/s Jindal Urban Infrastructure Limited (JUIL), a company of M/s Jindal Saw Group Limited. Birds and residents of Okhla are facing the onslaught of Prithviraj Jindal owned plant which has ignored the disastrous environmental health consequences of its operations. It is a case of environmental lawlessness in the heart of the national capital. Even Jairam Ramesh had underlined its violations in a letter to Delhi Chief Minister. Its a fraudulent carbon trade linked project. It is very important as it exposes the true character of carbon trade. In response to your message, may I ask: Is it incorrect to point out that the plant is just 1.7-km away from the Okhla bird sanctuary. The sanctuary is situated at the entrance of Noida in Gautam Budh Nagar district of Uttar Pradesh? An area of 3.5 square kilometres on the river Yamuna was notified as a bird sanctuary by the Government of Uttar Pradesh. Is it incorrect to state thar Jindal’s power plant is sandwiched between an eco sensitive zone of the sanctuary and the residential colonies? The plant is situated at a distance of less than 50-100 meters from the residential colonies. This hazardous plant has an adverse impact on a large number of transcontinental migratory birds that visit the Okhla sanctuary. Not only that there is a large lake which lies sandwiched between Okhla village towards the west and Gautam Budh Nagar towards the east Is it incorrect to point out that the impact of Jindal's waste incineration based power plant on this water source was not been disclosed in the Environment Impact Assessment report of the plant and the fact that this plant does not have the required mandatory clearances from the National Board for Wildlife? Vindicating our position National Green Tribunal (NGT)'s order has put a stop to all illegal constructions in a 10-km radius of Okhla Bird Sanctuary at the Okhla barrage over Yamuna River on Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border. The IPS story shows mirror to those who are so anthropocentric that they do not recognize that birds of Okhla and residents of Okhla constitute a community of fate. In the story Tarun Kumar Roy has stated that some 10,000 birds could be counted at the Okhla sanctuary a decade ago. “That number has now been reduced by half, to around 5,000 birds." I see no reason to disagree with him. It must be noted that he is referring to the trend over a decade. Can a bird count of September 2013 alone without providing any number provide us any inference with regard to increase or decrease in the number of birds? In any case do consider sharing the bird count of both September 2012 and 2013 so that we can compare it with the bird count in September 2014. You will agree that anyone who disputes the contention that bird count has decreased over a decade has to provide a figure dispute it. You have not done that in your message. As a consequence your message is logically invalid. I am quite appreciative of the story by Ranjit based on his home work and the views of Tarun Kumar Roy, Faizi S. Faizi, member of the expert committee on biodiversity and development at the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity and me. His conversation to me is quite relevant because it was done in a context when the campaign against the adverse impact of the power plant adjacent to the Bird Sanctuary was in full swing. Following or campaign District Forest Officer, Gautam Buddh Nagar visited the site and measured the distance from of the sanctuary from the hazardous plant. And UP Government was made alert towards its role. The plant in question has come up in manifest violation of the Wildlife Protection Act, EIA Notification, 2006, under the Environment Protection Act in the proximity of Okhla bird sanctuary. Are we incorrect in raising this issue? I wish to inform you that a scientist with the NGT appointed Commission, Dr U.C. Bahri wrote to Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) on 16 August 2013 saying, “Dust from Waste to energy plant was shocking… We expect strong action against the operators so that people living around should not suffer”. Aren't birds and residents of the area angry because of it? This Jindal’s power plant is situated in the proximity of the sanctuary, New Friends Colony, Maharani Bagh, Sukhdev Vihar and the business district Nehru Place - but also several prominent institutions, including hospitals like Apollo, Escorts and Holy Family. Disregarding these habitations of birds and humans and a number of binding guidelines from multiple state agencies and Supreme Court directive, the plant has deployed unapproved and untested Chinese technology for power generation from burning the garbage unmindful of its human and environmental cost. As part of our campaign to get this illegal and illegitimate plant closed and removed, we have have pointed out the linkage between the fate of birds and residents in Okhla face who are facing toxic dust routinely from Jindal’s waste based power plant in Sukhdev Vihar, Okhla that spews out large clouds of thick emissions. Let me also inform you that much of Sukhdev Vihar, Hazi colony, Gaffar Manzil and adjoining colonies including Jamia Milia Islamia and hospitals remains blanketed by soapy brown ash which has to be cleaned off floors, cars and even trees and shrubbery. In such a situation how is it incorrect to underline that birds and residents are suffering from this plant which is in their proximity. In this backdrop, I have written to Government of UP to demand that Okhla Bird Sanctuary be declared a Ramsar site drawing its attention to Article 1.1 of UNESCO's Ramsar Convention’s which defines wetlands as “areas of marsh, fen, peatland or water, whether natural or artificial, permanent or temporary, with water that is static or flowing, fresh, brackish or salt, including areas of marine water the depth of which at low tide does not exceed six metres.” This definition can be applied to Okhla Bird Sanctuary. Article 2.1 of the Convention provides that wetlands to be included in the Ramsar List of internationally important wetlands “may incorporate riparian and coastal zones adjacent to the wetlands, and islands or bodies of marine water deeper than six metres at low tide lying within the wetlands.” Wetlands are areas where water is the primary factor controlling the environment and the associated plant and animal life. They occur where the water table is at or near the surface of the land, or where the land is covered by water. I have argued that Okhla Bird Sanctuary should be made India’s 27th Ramasar site to ensure its protection and conservation from encroachments and industrial pollution. I felt a compelling need to do so as part of our efforts to bring relief to the birds and residents of Okhla who constitute of a community fate. If you have a contrary opinion you may write to them as well. In your message which you seem to have written in a hurry and you have reached misplaced inference with regard to the reporter of the story and me. I know you at least since 2000-2001. We may have few disagreements on some of the issues but the reporter of the IPS story should not be made to bear its burnt. Please allow me to state that you were quite unkind and impolite towards Ranjit (who is a senior journalist with an impeccable journalistic record) without any visible reason. In the post Niira Radia tapes episode that revealed the true colours of many journalists and media houses, Ranjit's presence is quite important for public interest. (You used write for one of these media houses which was caught handed on tape) You may consider reviewing and revising your observations about him in the light of my submissions to you. I also urge you to reconsider your observations in view of the threats faced by the birds and residents of Okhla from the hazardous emissions of suspended particulate matter, sulphur oxides, nitrogen oxides, hydrogen chloride, and dioxins and furans, the most toxic substances known to mankind. thanks & regards Gopal Krishna ToxicsWatch Alliance (TWA) Mb: 09818089660, 08227816731 E-mail:[email protected] Web: www.toxicswatch.org P.S: Angry Birds Skip Polluted Delhi By Ranjit Devraj, INTER PRESS SERVICE News Agency Eurasian Spoonbill wintering at the Okhla sanctuary in the heart of New Delhi city. Credit: T.K. Roy/IPS NEW DELHI, Aug 22 2013 (IPS) - Every winter the Okhla wetlands, a charmed haven in the heart of India’s bustling capital city, play host to Greater Flamingoes, Greylag Geese, Tufted Pochards, Northern Shovelers and other exotic, feathered visitors winging in from colder climes as far away as Siberia. These avian migrants join hundreds of local water birds to breed in the Okhla Bird Sanctuary and Wildlife Park – a four square kilometres patch of wetland on the Jamuna river. The river is struggling to survive amidst costly real estate and development projects in the state of Delhi on the west bank of the river and Uttar Pradesh state on the east. Conservationists now warn that unless there is a halt to construction activity on the banks of the Jamuna and to the pumping of raw sewage and effluents into the river, the annual spectacle of colours and shapes winging into the Okhla sanctuary will soon be nothing more than a cherished memory. According to Tarun Kumar Roy, coordinator of the Asian waterbird census of Wetlands International (WI), some 10,000 birds could be counted at the Okhla sanctuary a decade ago. “That number has now been reduced by half, to around 5,000 birds,” Roy told IPS. Wetlands International, a Netherlands-based not-for-profit organisation, works to conserve wetlands and their resources for people and for the cause of biodiversity. Roy, who has been working to get the Okhla sanctuary recognition as a site protected under the 1971 Ramsar Convention, says the dwindling bird numbers have dashed his hopes. Other experts believe that it is still possible to gain recognition for the Okhla sanctuary as a Ramsar site so that it can benefit from international support through the treaty designed to stop encroachments on wetlands with ecological, economic, cultural, scientific and recreational significance. “The fact that a good number of transcontinental migratory birds visit the Okhla sanctuary makes it an outstanding candidate for designation as a Ramsar site,” Faizi S. Faizi, who is a member of the expert committee on biodiversity and development at the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, told IPS. Faizi says it is helpful that the Okhla sanctuary has been certified as an ‘Important Bird Area’ by Birdlife International for its ornithological importance. Gopal Krishna, coordinator of Toxics Watch, a major environment group based in the capital, said it is up to the ministry of environment and forests to get the Okhla sanctuary rated as a Ramsar site. “If the ministry has failed in this regard it is only due to pressure from the powerful construction and real estate lobbies,” Krishna told IPS. “It is hard to believe that the officials of the ministry are unaware of encroachments into a national sanctuary located barely five kilometres away from its offices,” said Krishna. “How could, for example, a heavily polluting waste-to-energy incinerator come up on the edge of the park without ministry clearance?” Krishna said the future of the Okhla sanctuary now rests greatly on a series of cases filed by environmentalists and local residents at the National Green Tribunal, a special fast-track court that handles contentious cases relating to environmental issues. “The most important of these cases relates to the waste-to-energy incinerator that has been functioning since January 2012 within the eco-sensitive zone of the Okhla sanctuary,” said Krishna. “A judicial commission of the tribunal has established that the emissions from the plant are 25 times above the permitted limit.” In July, the school of environmental sciences at New Delhi’s Jawaharalal Nehru University released the results of a study that found the air around Okhla to be severely polluted with lead, nickel, cadmium and cobalt that could only have come from the incinerator. “The high chimneys of the Okhla incinerator are a serious threat to migratory birds since they emit a range of toxic gases into their flight path,” said Roy. On Aug. 14, the tribunal suspended further unauthorised construction in a 10-km wide eco-sensitive zone around the Okhla sanctuary, and ordered a fresh survey of the area by central and provincial authorities with a view to protecting it. Faizi said the tribunal order has come not a moment too soon. “The Okhla waste-to-energy incinerator is absolutely unacceptable in this critical bird area and must be removed without further delay,” he said. According to Roy, although the total number of visiting birds has declined, the range of bird species represented at the Okhla sanctuary appears to be increasing. “A total of 330 bird species has been recorded at the Okhla sanctuary, although some species are no longer being sighted.” Feathered visitors to the Okhla sanctuary that figure on the ‘red-list’ of endangered bird species of the International Union for Conservation of Nature include the Ferruginous Duck, Black-tailed Godwit, River Lapwing, Egyptian Vulture, Oriental Darter, Painted Stork, Black-bellied Tern and Black-headed Ibis. The tribunal is currently hearing multiple petitions asking for intervention against property developers, builders and a ‘sand mining mafia’ that defy existing rules that can help protect the Okhla sanctuary. After it was discovered that illegal sand mining had caused the Jamuna to shift its course eastward, a crackdown involving seizures and arrests was carried out by Durga Shakthi Nagpal, administrator of Uttar Pradesh’s Gautam Budh Nagar district in which much of the Okhla sanctuary falls. But on Jul. 28, three months after the crackdown was launched, Nagpal was controversially suspended by her political bosses in what was widely seen as a backlash from the construction industry that uses large quantities of river sand for its cement and concrete mixes. Faizi said that only a people’s movement could save the sanctuary, which acts as a ‘green lung’ for congested and polluted Delhi that is home to 20 million people. “Recognising the Okhla sanctuary as a Ramsar site would be the best way to generate public interest in protecting one of the world’s truly unique wetlands.” http://www.ipsnews.net/2013/08/angry-birds-skip-polluted-delhi/ -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
